


Living in the Shadows

by lacedwithlilacs



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Blue-Purple Hawke, F/F, F/M, Hawke Has A Twin, Implied Female Hawke/Isabela, Purple Hawke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-10
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-16 14:21:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9275870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lacedwithlilacs/pseuds/lacedwithlilacs
Summary: It's hard living in Marian Hawke's shadow, especially when Marian and Adrian have purposely created a single persona. Although Adrian agreed to the charade, it's still difficult to be invisible all the time. At least her friends know how to make her feel different.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little character piece for now. Both Marian and Adrian are default appearance Hawkes.

The fire burns warmly in the hearth as Adrian sits on her sister’s bed, reading through one of the books that Varric had told them about. Her own room is drafty, with two large windows that let in too much cold. Adrian licks the tip of her finger and turns the page, rolling over from lying on her back and flipping to her front. She should be getting ready to meet the gang in The Hanged Man for a night of drinking and cards, but the book is just starting to get good and she’s been telling herself just one more page for the last five pages.

The bed dips slightly beside her and she thinks nothing of it until Anders leans down and whispers in her ear. “Perhaps we could stay home tonight and I could do that electricity thing to you again.”

Adrian immediately rolls away from his too close presence, closing her book without remembering to mark her page, “Woah Anders,” she throws her hands up defensively, “Mari’s in the privy so _please_ don’t tell me anymore.”

Anders turns a bright shade of red and for a second Adrian thinks she understands what Marian means by him being “cute when flustered”. “Adrian! What are you doing in Marian’s room, and why are you wearing her clothes? Didn’t she just wear that dress two days ago?”

Adrian grabs her book and climbs up into a sitting position, her legs crossed. “Mari’s room is warmer than mine half the time and I’m not stealing _her_ clothes, we just share all of _our_ clothes.”

“Adrian’s robes are in the wash because she got them dirty, again,” Marian says as she walks into the room. She’s still wearing her house robes as well, but her makeup is done and she looks somewhat more presentable than Adrian. Although Adrian was the older of the twins, people never seemed to believe it. Compared to Marian, Adrian had always been the imperfect one. Adrian’s clothes always dirtied faster, her words were never as eloquent, and she was nowhere near as feminine.

Adrian tosses a pillow at Marian, Marian catching the pillow with ease and throwing it right back at her sister. “Mari,” Adrian whines and scoots towards the edge of the bed, “Anders is telling me about the dirty things he wants to do to you again. Please reign your mage in before he scars me for life.”

Marian sighs and shakes her head. She looks over at Anders, still sitting on the edge of her bed and smiles faintly at the mage. “I think we’re going to stay home tonight, I don’t particularly feel like drinking tonight.” Marian walks over to her bed, sitting down beside Anders, their legs touching barely. Adrian wonders if her sister thinks she doesn’t notice or if the gesture is on purpose for her sake.

Adrian shrugs her shoulders as she makes her way towards the door, “That’s fine with me. You sound like you’re in for a fun night though, Anders was saying something about an electricity thing?”

The pillow from earlier flies directly at Adrian’s head as Marian shouts, “Get out!”

Adrian goes to get ready in her own room, throwing on a pair of somewhat clean clothes and puts on her lightest armor. She doesn’t plan on any trouble on her way to Lowtown or the tavern, but knowing the twins’ reputation, it is certainly more than likely. Her fire is only embers at this point, her room cold and dark as she changes. She checks her looking glass on her way out, tussling her short hair and wonders how Marian somehow always makes it look so good.

Part of the twins’ act is fooling everyone who isn’t in their inner circle into believing there is only one older Hawke. When people speak about the Hawke sisters, the twins have carefully planned that people mention only the older sister and the Grey Warden Bethany. Few know about both Adrian and Marian and that proves as an advantage battle after battle.

It does, however, have its downfalls. “Marian!” Adrian hears as she exits the Hawke mansion and heads towards Lowtown. From the direction of the Chantry, she sees Sebastian walking towards her. She’s never met the man, but Marian had thoroughly described him and there is probably only one person in Kirkwall with a belt that is shaped like Andraste’s face. “I wanted to thank you for your help last week with Lady Harimann.”

Adrian smiles as best as she can. This is apparently a mission that Marian hasn’t briefed her on yet and Adrian can only pray to Sebastian’s belt buckle that she isn’t going to be asked details. “It was no trouble,” Adrian tries her best to play Marian’s helpful role, but it always feels forced when she does, “I’m on my way to meet some friends now, perhaps we can speak about this later?”

Sebastian nods, turning back towards the Chantry. “Of course, you can find me in the Chantry any time. I’d like to speak about everything in the next few days though if you could.”

“Certainly.” Adrian has to make a mental note for Marian or she’ll never hear the end of it. The last time that Adrian forgot, Anders and Marian might not have gotten together. Though there was no danger of that happening with Sebastian, the fit Marian had thrown was a danger in itself. If it hadn’t been for Varric’s timely reminder one night at The Hanged Man, Marian may not have gone to help Anders deal with Ser Alrik in time. Shortly after, Adrian made sure that Anders never mistook her for Marian again.

Adrian turns back towards the square where the merchants sell their goods during the day. The sun has already set, casting shadows where muggers and gang members always wait for innocent victims. Thankfully, there are no Invisible Sisters hiding tonight. The gang’s name is a bit silly in Adrian’s opinion. These girls, they could hardly be called women most times, were usually poor at staying invisible.

Rather, she thinks that she should start her own group. Marian and Adrian had created their singular persona upon arriving to Kirkwall and with Athenril’s help, they’d convinced almost everyone in the Undercity that Hawke was a single woman. Marian was the face, the one who actually did the talking because she’d always been better at it. Adrian hid in the shadows, waiting for Marian to signal her sister to join the fight. It never failed to confuse the enemy, two of them in identical armor, identical features, identical fighting styles. Always being the hidden one, Adrian knows she would be a much better Invisible Sister than any of these sisters in Hightown.

Adrian hurries a little, the weather is beginning to dip down to winter temperatures, and the cold nips at her heels. The faster that she gets to The Hanged Man, the less invisible she might feel in Marian’s shadow. She digs her hands into her pockets, hunching into herself and trying to keep the wind chill at bay. The markets are closed up, funneling the wind from the Waking Sea up through the city. The smell of Lowtown quickly overpowers the smell of the ocean though and Adrian knows she’s getting close.

She can hear the tavern’s sound, music, laughing, yelling, as she climbs the stairs from the market area. She picks up her pace, anxious to get into the warmth of The Hanged Man and her friends. Once she’s inside, the group is already yelling at her, “Hawke, over here!” Varric had immediately taken to calling the twins by their last name when he wasn’t sure who he was dealing with. A smart move on his part that had quickly spread to the rest of their band of misfits.

Adrian takes a seat next to Isabela, letting the warmth soak into her bones as she slowly adjusts to the temperature. “Adrian,” Isabela coos, “I’m glad you made it.”

“How do you know it’s me?” Adrian asks, pulling her daggers off her back and beginning to undo her coat. “I could be Marian on a no-makeup day.”

Isabela winks at her, “Oh, trust me, I know.” Adrian claims that the sudden flush on her cheeks is from the heat of the tavern.

Varric pushes a drink at her and starts dealing cards out. Adrian wastes no time before she takes a swig of ale, welcoming the terrible taste. “Well, play a round and we’ll figure out who you really are.”

“Marian is terrible at cards,” Fenris grunts. Marian, somehow, is worse than even Merrill and Merrill has only learned recently how to cheat. Apparently, Isabela had been giving some personal lessons on that, not that Adrian was jealous or anything.

“Come on,” Adrian laughs and picks up her cards, “I could totally pretend to be as bad a Mari.”

“Certainly you can’t fake being _that_ terrible,” Merrill muses.

Varric throws a coin down first, starting the betting pile. “Plus, Blondie’s not here either so there’s some pretty deductive reasoning to be had here. I guess unless _you_ _’d_ rather be in bed with him right now.”

“No no no!” Adrian covers her hands with her ears as the group laughs. “I’m trying to avoid having nightmares tonight, thank you very much.”

“Come on Adrian, throw in some coin,” Isabela nudges at her side.

Adrian does with a laugh, throwing in perhaps a silver too much for their game. She couldn’t care less though, taking another sip from her ale. Tonight, she can freely be herself. Not Hawke. Not Marian’s shadow. Just Adrian.


End file.
